Very pleasant story

The story was very good and positive. I loved it. The narration at the
beginning was excellent but the last couple of narrators were very 'unusual'. Over all though I would reccomend this book for its uplifting stories.

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Lovely characters

Great stories that may be based in Japan but they could be from any where in the world. So real and so heartwarming.

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We all need a Sayuri Komachi in our lives sometime

The narrators change with each story, the first is perfect and I wish she carried on narrating it. The second is fine, but a contrast to the first, so it takes a bit to get used to. The third and fourth narrators seemed to struggle a bit with English, as they took longer to get through a sentence and sometimes it looked like a machine was reading. It kept taking me off the story. But worse was the third narrator interpretation of the librarian Sayuri Komachi, it was so horrible and a complete contrast to the other narrators that almost made me skip that story.
But, despite this, the book is still wonderful.

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Light-hearted and comforting

Interesting storyline and compelling characters. Each story is quite different and although all of them are quite optimistic, reading it doesn't leave an overly sweet taste in your mouth. It's more of a warming feeling after a bowl of umami-rich miso soup.

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Enjoyable collection of stories

I went for this one as Hanako Footman was listed as one of the narrators. As it turned out, this was not necessarily the best choice. Footman does narrate the first story, but not all of the stories. That’s not particularly a problem. The main issue was that having just listened to “Mongrel”, I was now associating Footman’s voice with the characters in that book (for some reason, I didn’t have the same issue when listening to “Mongrel” after “Four Seasons in Japan”). By the time my brain had made the adjustment, the book was onto another part and another narrator. This book is essentially a collection of five separate stories – albeit with links between them. Each story has its own moral or life lesson. For example, the second story is about the importance of trust. I really loved the third story with its views on books and life. The fourth one took a while to get used to – the narration style is a bit like an AI reader at times with short, choppy sentences, but I realised that this was deliberate to make it like manga, and it ends up being effective and endearing once you get used to it. This is one of those collection of stories that I could imagine those not used to Japanese literature not clicking with, but I really enjoyed it, but I think next time I will read the paperback/eBook or perhaps the Japanese original.

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Lovely and heartwarming

This was a slow start, but once I got into the ebb and flow of the story I loved it!
It’s told from the perspective of different characters who are at various places in their lives but all are feeling disconnected and alone! Through the power of books and the different perspectives they offer each character finds revelations about themselves and what their future offers.
The narrators are all quite good, though when they try to do the voices of other characters some work better than others!
I would definitely recommend this book! Excellent!

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Pleasant short stories

Nice to read a book that makes you feel warm and that there is still good in the world.

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Enjoyable to listen to

I listened to this book on Audible and really enjoyed the stories. The narrations were really good and performed well by the various Readers. They bought the characters of the stories to life with humour and grace. I was pleasantly surprised, after finishing the first story and halfway through the second story, to find there was a link between the two, in previous characters being mentioned and that continued throughout the book. The link between the characters in all the stories is what I liked the best. What attracted me most to this book was its library and book theme and the fact that it was set in Japan. I found the characters in each story charming and the main Librarian in the Library fascinatingly mysterious.

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Wholesome and thought provoking

A lovely listen, I enjoyed listening to each story in isolation across a few months. I quite enjoyed the change in VAs, it helped each personality and their own story and circumstances develop. Great story to relax and relate to.

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Gentle, engaging philosophy about overcoming difficulties and becoming the best version of ourselves.

An interesting and engaging novel, split into five stories about five different characters who encounter life challenges and overcome them with the help of a wise librarian.

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